Life of an Expert Swordsman
Encyclopedia
Life of an Expert Swordsman (Japanese: Aru kengo no shogai 或る剣豪の生涯) is a 1959 samurai film directed by Hiroshi Inagaki
and starring Toshirô Mifune
. Its story is an adaptation of the Edmond Rostand
play Cyrano de Bergerac
, and its basic plot faithfully follows that of the play. The film was released in the English-speaking world with the title Samurai Saga.
In the film, Mifune plays a samurai named Heihachiro Komaki, who is analogous to the Cyrano de Bergerac character. Yôko Tsukasa plays Komaki's love interest, Princess Chiyo, who is analogous to Cyrano's love interest, Roxane.
At the end of the film, when the mortally wounded Komaki visits Princess Chiyo at her convent to bring her the latest news of the outside world, one of the news items he mentions is the defeat of Kojirō Sasaki in a duel by the famed samurai Musashi Miyamoto. Prior to filming Life of an Expert Swordsman, Mifune had in fact played Miyamoto in a film trilogy
, also directed by Inagaki, which chronicled Miyamoto's life, culminating in his legendary duel with Sasaki.
Hiroshi Inagaki
was a Japanese filmmaker most known for the Academy Award-winning Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto, which he directed in 1954.-Career:Born in Tokyo as the son of a shinpa actor, Inagaki appeared on stage in his childhood before joining the Nikkatsu studio as an actor in 1922...
and starring Toshirô Mifune
Toshiro Mifune
Toshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo...
. Its story is an adaptation of the Edmond Rostand
Edmond Rostand
Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism, and is best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac. Rostand's romantic plays provided an alternative to the naturalistic theatre popular during the late nineteenth century...
play Cyrano de Bergerac
Cyrano de Bergerac (play)
Cyrano de Bergerac is a play written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand. Although there was a real Cyrano de Bergerac, the play bears very scant resemblance to his life....
, and its basic plot faithfully follows that of the play. The film was released in the English-speaking world with the title Samurai Saga.
In the film, Mifune plays a samurai named Heihachiro Komaki, who is analogous to the Cyrano de Bergerac character. Yôko Tsukasa plays Komaki's love interest, Princess Chiyo, who is analogous to Cyrano's love interest, Roxane.
At the end of the film, when the mortally wounded Komaki visits Princess Chiyo at her convent to bring her the latest news of the outside world, one of the news items he mentions is the defeat of Kojirō Sasaki in a duel by the famed samurai Musashi Miyamoto. Prior to filming Life of an Expert Swordsman, Mifune had in fact played Miyamoto in a film trilogy
Samurai Trilogy
The Samurai Trilogy is a film trilogy directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and starring Toshirō Mifune as Musashi Miyamoto and Koji Tsuruta as Kojirō Sasaki...
, also directed by Inagaki, which chronicled Miyamoto's life, culminating in his legendary duel with Sasaki.